Finding Hope in Nightmares
by PerfectDreamer
Summary: Title changed. Continuation of 'He is my Hero'.   Ashley sees in Leon the hero she had waited for ever since she was kidnapped. Leon wants to live up to her expectations and save both their lives. The odds are against them, but he won't give up, he cant.
1. I believe in him

Hello guys, I wanted to wish you all a late Happy New Year. :D

Sorry I took so long to update my fic. This is the continuation of my One-Shot, "He is my Hero". Since some people asked for it here it is. I will try to update this faster, I promise.

Also this chapter isn't really what I wanted to write but I had to regain my motivation to continue the story somehow. Next chapters will be better.

So I hope you enjoy and review. :)

This is a Leon and Ashley story, so flames about the couple will be ignored. If you don't like them don't read, easy as that.

Disclaimer: Resident Evil 4 and its characters belong to Capcom. I don't own anything just this story.

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><p>Leon woke up from his deep sleep.<p>

He was surprised at how comforting it felt, he hadn't felt this way after waking up since who knows how long. He was glad he now had fully replenished his energy and was ready to kick some ass. The agent got up from the bed and when he looked around he noticed the barricades he set up were removed from the door and the window and that Ashley was nowhere in sight.

"Ashley?" He asked but there was no answer.

"Ashley, where are you?" He asked now louder and with a hint of worry in his strong voice, but still no answer was heard. He cursed at his late awareness and for not being able to wake up when something happened around his surroundings.

Then he heard something coming from the room far back in the corner.

The government agent quickly grabbed his hand gun and went straight towards, he put himself against the wooden door to hear better, the sound seemed to be coming from the inside of the room. While leaning against the door Leon grabbed the doorknob and asked again for Ashley. Again there was no response. With that he decided he had to throw the door open and find out for himself what was going on.

He kicked the door open with great strength using only his right leg, his gun held out ready for anything, before his sight could focus on whatever was inside, Leon received a hit straight to his flawless face, and a loud scream filled his ears.

"Leon what the fuck!" He heard the loud apparently angry voice say.

He now looked up while holding his left hand on the place he was hit.

What he saw left him shocked and filled him with embarrassment.

Ashley was there inside the room which is known as a bathroom, under the shower with nothing but a white towel covering the front of her body. The towel didn't cover a lot, only the most private parts so Leon could get a good look at her figure.

"A-ash I'm so, so sorry I-I didn't know y-you were here uh- naked…" He said trying to not look at her. He blamed himself for forgetting the door he forced open lead to the bathroom.

"Just get out!" She yelled with an angry yet nervous tone in her voice.

"Yeah ok, uh I'll be out here." He said closing the door still without looking at her.

_'I hope she doesn't tell her father about any of this, if she does I surely won't have a job, or worse_…' The young man didn't want to think what the President would do to him if he found out he disrespected his daughter's privacy.

'_It's not like I really saw much though, not like I wanted to see anything either_…' The young man thought remembering the image of her figure, when he realized what he was doing he repressed himself from thinking any further about it.

Minutes later Ashley came out of the bathroom, she was wearing the usual clothes except they looked cleaner. She had tried her best at wiping out the dirt, mud, and blood stains with a small rag drenched in water.

She looked so much better now, it was as if her skin was brighter and her face was better defined.

The young woman looked now more filled with life than Leon had ever seen her before, ironic considering the place she was in and the parasite she hosted.

"So, you're ready to go?" Leon asked still feeling a bit awkward to look straight at her.

The blonde woman didn't seem to notice his awkwardness or simply ignore it by looking at Leon fully taking notice of every detail in his appearance. This made Leon felt uneasy and even more awkward, which made no sense to him considering worse situations he has been in.

"You're not going to clean yourself?" She finally asked.

Leon looked down at his body noticing his clothes were also dirty, the good thing was he was wearing dark clothing and the stains did not stand out in the fabric.

Ashley noticed Leon hadn't answered so she spoke again, this time trying to persuade him to take some time to take care of his hygiene.

"I think some warm water will make you feel better."

"Well I guess I could wash my hair and my face." Leon said. He liked taking care of his appearance when he had time, but in missions he usually had many more priorities than checking his face every five minutes on a mirror to check how good he looked.

"Good then, I'll warm some water on the stove for you." Ashley said taking another look at Leon's face before she turned to walk towards the kitchen.

"Ashley." Leon called out to her, still not looking at her.

"Yes?"

"Sorry for what happened earlier, I had no intention of disturbing you, I was just-"

"Worried, I know." She said finishing what he was about to say. "It's cool; next time just knock the door before you enter a bathroom." She said with a playful tone in her voice, and with that she resumed her way to the kitchen.

"Yeah. Where are my manners." Leon replied feeling a little dumb by what he did. Even if he did called her name, she probably didn't hear it by the sound of the water.

Minutes later Leon washed his face with the water Ashley warmed for him in a pan. It wasn't a lot but he appreciate the feeling of the warm soothing water running through his head and his face. His hair now lost the sticky feeling it had with the layer of dirt it had.

After he came out of the bathroom he felt refreshed and with even more strength.

"That was good." He said.

Ashley was sitting on the bed looking towards him, she noticed how her savior looked much better now and couldn't help but smile at him.

"I hadn't noticed there was soap in here."

"Oh well there wasn't, but when I woke up I moved the bookshelf a little from the window to see if there were any monsters but I only saw that man you buy guns from. So I went outside and bought some stuff we needed from him." Ashley said.

"You shouldn't wander around on your own, you could have gotten into trouble." Leon said with a serious tone in his voice, his protective instinct taking over.

"Well every time we saw that merchant there was no danger close to him. So I thought it would be ok." She said with an apologetic tone in her voice. "I just didn't want to wake you up."

After seeing how Ashley looked like she was really sorry now he felt like he was being too hard on her so he softened his voice.

"It's alright, don't be afraid to talk to me next time; doesn't matter what time it is or what I'm doing. You are my priority right now, and you don't disturb me, remember that."

Ashley nodded and gave him another small smile.

"Wait, where did you get the pesetas to pay him?" Leon asked curiously.

"Uh, I might have found some around this place… in your pocket." She said in a sheepish tone of voice.

Leon couldn't help but laugh at how she said she practically took his money from him. He shook his head and looked at her, the earlier awkwardness totally fading away.

"I guess I can find more in treasure chests and conveniently placed inside barrels."

"About that, I wonder who leaves gold lying out there carelessly and why."

"I wonder the same thing Ash."

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><p>After they finally got out of the house they resumed their way to find a way out of there and back to their land.<p>

Leon lead the way as usual killing any enemy that got in their way.

When Ashley saw Leon shoot them down, she wondered if Leon felt something, any remorse or regret for taking away their life. She still hasn't gotten used to seeing Leon ruthlessly get rid of anything that crossed their path, she knew those villagers used to be human, and probably still were, they were being controlled against their will. It made her feel terrible that neither she nor Leon could do anything to save them, to bring them back to themselves.

This also reminded her that they hosted the same parasite the villagers did, they could become part of them if they were late, and she didn't know how much time they had left until their will ceased to exist.

_'I can't become one of them. It would be devastating if I went back home to my father while being possessed by a psychotic religious ruler_.' The young blonde woman thought sadly, desperation starting to crawl into her mind. She looked up at Leon who was shooting the last Ganado blocking their path. She saw the determination in his eyes, those fearless blue eyes that made her look for hope when it seemed useless.

When he killed the last Ganado Leon took her hand into his and guided her towards a gate.

"Come on Ash, we're one step closer." He said taking a look back at her.

"Let's go." She said with an unreadable expression in her face.

_'I can't let desperation take over again. Leon doesn't need more trouble with me_.' Ashley though while looking at her savior from behind._ 'We will make it. Leon will save us both, I trust him.'_

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><p>So what do you think? I know this chapter is short and not much happened, but this is just the beginning. Next chapters will have more action, romance maybe, and an attempt at humor.<p>

Please Review if you read this. :)

Review if you think I should include Ada in the story at some place, or if you want me to include Luis, or more merchant. Also if you have any ideas or tips that might help me with this story, tell me in your review. :D

Remember don't criticize the couple please.

Also I have planned another RE story, but this one is a parody, though I think I'm not really funny. :(  
>I have already started writing it so I might post it later on.<p> 


	2. Guilty Conscience

I finally updated yay! *Crowd applause noise effect*

I think this chapter was better than the last one, since I did dedicate more time to this one.

I will try to update this every month, so you guys don't have to wait that much, I estimate this story will have at least 5 chapters maybe more, I don't know it depends on my mood, writing inspiration and of course your reviews, but I won't write less than 5 chapters that's for sure.

Also some locations or times that are in the game may be different in this fic, since in the game you supposedly went through all that adventure in Spain in just one day. One freaking day! That's bs to me, unbelievable, but oh well.

So yeah in my fic their stay in Spain is longer. Some scenarios are added, some skipped and some things like weapons, treasures and their locations are changed.  
>If you played the game you'll notice easily.<p>

Also swearing will be increased, since it would be more realistic, should I rate this M just because of the swearing?

Probably more vivid descriptions of the violence and gore too… but Idk since I'm not a good action/horror writer. :P

Anyway here it is, I hope you readers enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
>I seriously love this couple and Leon's personality, so I try to keep as close to their true selves as I can.<p>

Also I wanted to let you know that I put number in brackets in some parts of the fic, this indicates a part that I will explain further or comment about after the end, kind of like author's notes.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Resident Evil Capcom owns it.

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><p>Running they were, fighting for their lives in this God forsaken place.<br>Leon held Ashley's hand while guiding her through the modest worn out village. He needed her to keep up with him, even if he was way faster than she was, the young blonde woman was still putting great effort in not falling behind.

'Damn they sure are stubborn.' Leon thought angry at the Ganados that didn't give up in trying to kill him and take Ashley away.  
>'I need some time, ensure Ashley's safety so I can take them out without having to worry about her being kidnapped.' Leon tightened his grip on the young woman's hand and increased his speed thinking back to a place he had passed before; he tried to remember exactly where it was.<p>

"Come on Ashley." He said as if advising her that she had to increment her speed to.

After a few minutes of running away still uncaught by the hunters, he found the place he was looking for.  
>It was the tallest building in the small farm, it also looked more like a tower, and it was perfect to ensure Ashley's safety if she stayed up there.<p>

"Come on let's go up there." The government agent commanded although he didn't wait for a reply he just guided her inside the tower.

"Take the ladder, quick." He said having his handgun ready and taking a stance in the tower's entrance, now he could hear the Ganados rant stronger, even if they were still not in sight it was a sign they were getting closer.

"Wait Leon, why do you want me to get up there first?" Ashley asked looking up at the long ladder.

"Ashley just go up there." Leon said knowing the Ganados were closer now, he also feared they may be more than he had imagined.

"But what if there's something up there? I wouldn't be able to defend myself."

"There's nothing up there, so hurry up." He reassured her starting to feel more tensed up.

"Ok then." She said finally starting to get on the ladder, but then she stopped. "Leon."

"What now?"

"Could you please not look up at me while I climb the ladder?"

Leon couldn't tell if she was either trying to make a joke in a stressful situation or if she was actually being serious and concerned he would be a kind of pervert that would do that sort of thing. **[1]**

"Ashley, I have more important things to do right now. Now get up there!" He shouted without taking his sight off the outside of the tower, he was starting to lose his cool now that he saw the Ganados were really close and they were more than he expected. There were two groups coming from opposite sides.

'Do these things reproduce quickly or how the fuck do they come out of nowhere?' Leon asked himself in his thoughts, mad at the odds he was facing.

Ashley arrived at the high platform of the tower, it was a small space with two windows and a wooden table.  
>She could see the whole village, the farm and even farther from the view up there, she now noticed the many enemies that were following them.<p>

'I hope Leon can defeat them all.' She thought starting to worry about her bodyguard.  
>'Ugh I wish I could do something to help him.' The blonde woman thought starting to feel helpless once again, she knew those kinds of thoughts wouldn't be of much use so she cleared her head from the negativity and regained faith on her one savior.<p>

"Leon!" She yelled to get his attention once more before he went to the battlefield.

"What is it Ashley?" He asked, frustration starting to show in his tone of voice.

Ashley noticed this, but knew that it would be a normal reaction considering what he was about to do in a minute now.  
>"Please, be careful." She said with her concern clearly showing.<p>

Leon was slightly surprised by the sudden honest concern she demonstrated for him, it appeared almost too honest.  
>He thought she wasn't good in hiding her feelings and emotions as well as he was so it seemed normal to her to show exactly how she felt to the others around her. Even in situations like this.<p>

'I guess she doesn't know that in order to kill without remorse, you have to block out all your emotions as a human.' Leon thought while answering to the President's daughter.

"Don't worry about me, they are the ones that should start worrying." Leon said with confidence.

He knew he had to reassure her that he could take anything at any time without trouble, even if that wasn't in fact true, he had to give her the allusion that he was invincible and that nothing was impossible for him. Only that way she could ignore the truth of how difficult this situation was for Leon too, how difficult it was to find ammo or herbs, and how scarce they actually were. How he actually felt with having a parasite inside him growing steadily, and how he feared that he could lose his mind and turn against her and attack her, then what would she do?

Without wanting to think more deeply about that the agent cleared his head from all his thoughts and numbed his fear, he then aimed at the closest Ganado's head, and shot 3 bullets right between the possessed villager's eyes, blood streamed freely through his face while he fell to the ground and dissolved into a brown thick liquid. After that Leon shot 4 bullets at the one behind the recently dead Ganado and killed him successfully. His last words were "Lord Saddler."

More were coming towards him and some villagers were holding torches, Leon shot at one of the Ganado's hand holding the torch which caused it to fall off on an array of hay, this quickly turned into a larger flame. The fire started spreading towards a close by house and it blocked the enemies' path, at least the one's coming from the right. Although some were stupid enough to get caught in the flames, those that did screamed in pain and dropped to the ground unable to continue, while the others just cursed at Leon and stayed there looking fiercely at the American agent.

'That will keep them busy for a while.' Leon thought while he got further away from the tower's entrance, seeing more enemies coming from the left path.

Meanwhile Ashley was seeing everything that was going on from the high room of the tower, she noticed the fire and how Leon didn't seemed to worry that the whole village could be engulfed in flames, even if it looked like the fire wasn't getting any stronger.

'He probably knows what he is doing.' She thought.  
>Without much to do she sat on top of the table, her legs hurt since she was tired from the running, and most of all tired from being the prey.<p>

She then started thinking about how she acted earlier and how immature her response was.

'How can I call Leon a pervert at a time like this?... Ugh that was stupid of me, Leon probably thinks so too.'  
>The blonde felt sad knowing that she made a promise to herself, that being that she wouldn't give more problems to Leon, and with her earlier behavior she just broke that promise.<p>

'I need to change, I need to act more mature, I don't want him to think that I'm still a child. I am not a child anymore.'  
>She was determined to keep her promise the most she could, she knew she had to grow up and be more mature so that she could help Leon, she needed to prove she wasn't useless. Get rid of that sense of helplessness.<p>

At that same time, Leon was doing his best to contain the enemies, and stop them from getting too close to the tower.  
>He was doing a good job since none of the Ganados were strong enough to get past him.<p>

He shot a bullet to the foot of a female Ganado that was carrying an axe, when she bowed down from the pain he kicked her head with great strength, she then landed on the ground knocked out from the hit.

"There goes my rule of never hit a woman." Leon said sarcastically.

More Ganados approached him, all unaware of the female who just got knocked out by the agent.

"They don't seem to fear me yet." Leon said while he started shooting at them once more.

All his bullets landed right on target, and when a Ganado lost his cover Leon took advantage of that opening and landed a round house kick on him that would make Chuck Norris proud. **[2]**

After a few more seconds of ass kicking, the Ganados stopped going in for an attack.

"So they're finally giving up." Leon said to himself with a victorious smile.

The noise in the farm started to decay, the possessed villagers' rant stopped, and silence filled the area in a matter of seconds, the clouds on the sky that usually blocked almost all sunlight in the island now where becoming denser and thicker, causing dusk to fall heavily on the farm, making it harder to see anything in the distance.

Out of nowhere a loud violent roar broke the silence, it was arriving closer from the abnormal shadows to Leon's position.

'I think I have heard this before.' Leon thought getting ready for the worse, he took out his shotgun.

The loud roar was storming the whole farm, then suddenly some Ganados were being tossed aside by a tall figure.

"Holy shit." Leon said as he saw what he was going to fight against at this moment.

Meanwhile Ashley heard the sudden thundering sound too, she had no idea what it pertained to but she knew it wasn't a good sign.

From the distance she finally spotted what was causing the loud violent sound, it was nothing else but a large chainsaw, being held by a big Ganado with what looked like a brown sack on his head with two holes for his strange creepy eyes to see.

"Leon!" Ashley screamed frantically knowing Leon would have a tougher time defeating that monstrosity.

The creature known as Dr. Salvador walked towards Leon with impatience, he couldn't wait to run his hungry chainsaw through Leon's fragile neck, his pretty head would be a great trophy, and a nice piece of decoration for his house.

Leon in the other hand had no plans of being anyone's trophy so with his shotgun he shot 5 bullets aimed at the maniac's torso.  
>The maniac with the chainsaw didn't even flinch at Leon's attempts to slow him down, he continued his way as if nothing had hit him.<p>

"Shit, this one is tougher than the last one." Leon said under his breath. He retroceded knowing his shotgun wasn't going to be effective from a longer distance but he knew he had no chance of close combat against him, so instead he pulled out his TMP.

The agent shot at 's masked head and just as before it didn't do much to stop him from coming up his way.

At the same time all the other Ganados that were once observing the fight, now were joining it for an unfair match.

The fire that was once lit now was dead due to a Ganado being smart enough to get water from the well with a bucket and pouring it over the burnt hay.

So now Leon was completely surrounded by a dozen Ganados and a big masked maniac with a chainsaw.

"Could this get any worse." Leon said under his breath, he was running out of options and ammunition, he was running out of time or space to retreat to.

The government agent could only retreat towards the tower and that seemed like a last resource for him now that was in the fight.

What would he be able to do if he went up there were Ashley was, and he could not kill the chainsaw maniac before he got up there to kill him, the agent didn't have enough firepower to stop him, and the ladder in the tower was attached to the floor so he could not just kick the ladder down.

Meanwhile Ashley looked at the situation below, she was immensely scared, still the blonde didn't stayed paralyzed as her body demanded to and tried to look for an escape route for Leon to take, but the Ganados had completely surrounded him.

The young woman started searching around the room for anything helpful, since it was such a small place she easily discovered nothing was in there until she looked under the table she was once sitting on.

There were brown carton boxes, she pulled them out and opened them but found nothing but insects, she soon threw away the boxes out of disgust and looked again under the table if there was anything else, to her luck behind those boxes she pulled out there was what looked like a bigger metallic box.

She dragged it out since it was heavy and noticed it was a red chest, she tried opening it and fortunately it did open to reveal a treasure that might be of great use for Leon. **[3]**

"This might help." She said taking out the prize inside the chest, relieved that she found it.  
>The young woman looked outside from the tower to see if any enemies were below it or close by, but there were none at the time, so she went down the ladder rapidly to give the item to Leon before it was too late. <strong>[4]<strong>

Leon shot 4 more shells towards the Ganados that were closest to him.  
>The shotgun was great for keeping them at a distance, too bad it didn't help much against .<p>

Suddenly an ignored Ganado grabbed Leon from behind, trying to keep him still while the chainsaw maniac could make his fatal attack.  
>Leon quickly got the Ganado off him and shot him twice with his shotgun to make sure he wouldn't get up again.<p>

Then he heard insane laughter from behind him, he felt goose bumps running through his body, he could feel the maniac was dangerously close to him than before and had little time to react.

Time seemed to slow down, Leon turned around to face that was getting ready for an attack, the American agent tried shooting his shot gun which unfortunately at this moment it had run out of ammo.

Without anything else to shoot with he dropped the shotgun and took stance, the maniac then enthusiastically charged his blood thirsty chainsaw towards Leon's neck.

Leon grabbed 's strong arms in a desperate attempt to stop him from cutting through his neck. He could hear his enemies panting, he could see his eyes, those eyes depicted raw madness, he noticed pure blood lust in those obscure grotesque orbs that were staring back at him.

Leon felt like if he was staring at death itself, once again, after all those years from facing Birkin back then in Raccoon City.

The agent was clear of all thoughts that were once running harshly though his mind, yet knowing in the back of his mind that this was a life or death situation, he felt the outburst of an adrenaline rush in him, gifting him with inhumane strength and with that he deviated the chainsaw attack and took this opportunity to kick the maniac away from him.

It wasn't much but Leon did avoid certain death and gained a precious small amount of time to breathe.

Dr. Salvador regained his stance and once again, faster than what Leon expected, and continued his one track minded plan of killing Leon and keeping his head.

Leon's heartbeat started rushing faster, cold sweat felt from his forehead, he walked backwards facing the monster with panic in his eyes, without realizing it he was retreating into the tower and enclosing himself.

He had nothing to do, he couldn't go up the ladder without the chainsaw reaching him, Dr. Salvador blocked the tower's only entrance, and Leon was exhausted from his last encounter with him, he could only wait for another miraculously adrenaline rush to provide him with extra normal strength to deviate another attack or for someone to come out of nowhere and save him, like it happened before with Mendez.

Leon wanted to move when Dr. Salvador laughed insanely while raising his voluminous chainsaw preparing to charge yet another enthusiastic attack at him.  
>Leon's body didn't respond as he desperately wanted to. The agent was paralyzed with fear, his training had been forgotten in that moment, the chainsaw's thundering sound roar, the left out villager's angry rant, the dementedly laugh coming from his main enemy, and even the terrified scream behind him, it was all blocked out from his senses.<p>

He could feel as if he was separated from his physical body, separated from the pain that had been brought to him in this world.

Loud deafening shots echoed through the tower's walls. A male's loud tearing yell of pain was heard throughout the entire village.  
>Then a thud, a body fell to the cold grey floor of the tower, with his head facing the roof, his eyes now had no expression in them, no sign of life.<p>

He had finally died, after all his attempts, after the long tiresome fight, he had finally been defeated.  
>He had never been defeated before, but who could've thought this unusual enemy would have won this fight. He was only there to protect all he thought he cared about.<p>

Ashley stood there, her whole body cold and shaking, her legs grew weaker until she couldn't take it anymore, she felt to her knees.  
>Tears streamed freely from her hazel eyes, her vision was blurry, but she wouldn't be able to forget what she just witnessed. His death would always be a terrible memory in her mind, it would always haunt her and she knew it. The young woman tried to speak, to say something, but no coherent sound could come out of her mouth at that traumatizing moment.<p>

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><p>So there it is!<br>Hope you guys enjoyed reading it. :D

If you did please review! Tell me what you think, criticize me or my writing by pointing out what were my mistakes so I can get better. Tell me what this needs, what you want to see later on, what you want to know.

Pretty please review if you want me to have more motivation to continue and update this fic quickly. :D

Also since I don't have this game anymore in my laptop I had to see some walkthroughs quickly, so maybe some things are different.

By the way I know I said I would make a more romantic chapter this time, but I just couldn't this time, sorry.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong>

**[1]** In the game when Ashley is in a platform in the edge of the ladder ready to jump and Leon is ready to catch, if Leon looks or aims up at her she says something like, "oh you pervert" or "what are you looking at?". I found that funny but inappropriate too. Since I wasn't trying to look at her or anything. I can't believe the creators actually thought of that and added it to the game.

**[2]** Leon's awesome kicks could rival those of Chuck Norris and his jumping down from high distances without breaking his bones would make Chuck proud. Of course we don't count that failed attack at Mendez. This is just an attempt at humor at the famous Chuck Norris beats everything joke.

**[3]**This treasure chest was found at a way different location in the game, but I had to place it there for reasons…

**[4]** So I know in the game she wait for Leon to catch her instead of going down the ladder by herself. Probably to take advantage of this situation to be in his arms and feel his touch lol, I would do that too. :P

Anyways she wasn't going to wait for that since Leon was very busy at the moment so she climbed them down herself knowing she couldn't wait any longer and that no one would take a look at her underwear.


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